By Jeff Bashara

The Northeastern women’s cross country team pulled out a close win, besting host Quinnipiac University 49-48 at the Quinnipiac Invitational last Friday. The meet featured an exciting climax with Northeastern’s women runners surging past their opponents at the very end to ensure their victory.

“It was a tremendous win for our girls. We pulled it out in the final half-mile,” said Northeastern coach Sherman Hart.

The coach gave special mention to the crunch-time performance of freshman Laura McCloskey, who made seven passes in the final half-mile. But Hart made it clear that it was a team effort that sealed the deal, heaping praise on his entire female squad.

“All of our girls made passes at the end to win it for us. Our pure speed came into play,” Hart said.

The women’s team was led by junior Amy Hicks (2nd, 19:11.4) and followed by Emily Watson (6th, 19:25.6), Stephanie Morrison (9th, 19:30.8), McCloskey (15th, 20:09.7) and Erin Ballard (16th, 20:09.8).

For the men, there was no dramatic victory, but still a solid seventh-place finish out of the 13 schools represented. Coach Hart said he was pleased with their performance and thinks they’re not that far off.

“We’ll grow together and get better,” Hart said. “We’re not quite at a championship level yet, but this is a very young team just like our women were a couple years ago.”

Hart praised freshmen Tom Brown (18th, 27:20), who has been the top finisher for the men in every race this season, and Seth Housman for their progress in this transition. Some of the team’s veterans, like junior captain Adam Zeisel, who just returned from knee and foot injuries and is still getting his legs back, haven’t been able to contribute 100 percent. Coach Hart may decide to redshirt a few of them and come out really strong next season.

The next few weeks will be spent fine-tuning their strategies for the New England Championships, which will be in Boston at Franklin Park on Oct. 8.